Canadian Gangster Wants His Poker Winnings Back

Sophon Sek was arrested on Monday on charges of manslaughter. The 30-year-old Canadian is a suspect in the notorious Surrey Six gangland slayings of October 19, 2007, when six men were shot to death in a Surry high rise apartment building in the Canadian province of British Colombia. Sek was a member of the Red Scorpions, a local gang deeply involved in drug trafficking. He allegedly gave other gang members access to the Balmoral Tower high rise where the killings took place, without knowing their plans.

On Sunday evening, just one day before his arrest, Sek won $364,364 in the British Colombia Poker Championship at the River Rock Casino in Vancouver. When he was arrested the following morning, police confiscated his winnings. Sek insists that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had no right to take his money, and he wants it back.

There was nothing about Sek’s involvement in the poker tournament that broke any Canadian gambling laws. The tournament was held by the BC Lottery Corporation, which is the entity that licenses casino gambling throughout British Colombia. Police insists that they will soon serve the BC Lottery Corporation with papers justifying the seizure, but Sek’s lawyer, Alan Ip, is unsure. “I am interested to see what grounds they have to justify this,” says Ip, “and I don't think they can, and I expect Mr. Sek to be getting his money back that he won fair and square.”

Ip claims that his client plays poker for a living, both in land tournaments and at online poker sites in Canada. A spokesperson for the BC Lottery Corporation says Sek is an unknown in the local poker world, and claims this is his first time participating in one of their tournaments. Regardless of Sek’s poker reputation, the burden of proof will rest on the RCMP to provide sufficient reason for keeping Sek from his well-earned poker winnings.